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Archive for category Diplomats

foreshadowing

Jan 20

Posted by A. Peasant in 9-11, Afghanistan, CIA, Clinton, Corruption & Crime, Diplomats, India, Military, Nuclear Weapons, Pakistan, Philippines, Southeast Asia, Terrorism | No Comments

Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense, warns that South Asian militant groups threaten to destabilize the entire region and could trigger a war between “nuclear armed Pakistan and India.”

(Just for the record, India is also “nuclear armed.“)

Watch Mr. Gates reflect anxiety, set expectations, and proactively absolve India for whatever it might do in response to “some provocative act:”

Reflecting anxiety in the region about New Delhi’s reaction if it were attacked by a militant group with roots in Pakistan, Mr Gates said restraint by India could not be counted on. He added that militants under Al-Qaeda’s ’syndicate’ - which includes the Taleban in Pakistan and Afghanistan, as well as Pakistan-based Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba - posed a danger to the region as a whole.

They are trying ‘to destabilise not just Afghanistan, not just Pakistan, but potentially the whole region by provoking a conflict perhaps between India and Pakistan through some provocative act,’ Mr Gates said during a visit to New Delhi. ‘It’s important to recognise the magnitude of the threat that the entire region faces,’ he said following talks with his Indian counterpart, A.K. Antony.

…’I think it’s not unreasonable to assume India’s patience would be limited were there to be further attacks,’ Mr Gates warned.

New Delhi suspects the Pakistani intelligence service of supporting terror groups that target India and has consistently called on Islamabad to crack down on militants operating on its soil. Mr Gates described India as a vital partner in the struggle against extremist threats, expressed appreciation for its economic aid to Afghanistan and said that he had discussed how to bolster US-India military cooperation.

It appears that whatever happens, Pakistan will be blamed. If India retaliates — even out of proportion — it sounds like that will be overlooked by the US, given that it’s not “unreasonable to assume India’s patience would be limited were there to be further attacks.”

Interesting. Which country has suffered more from terrorism in recent memory? India, or Pakistan?

India had the Mumbai attack in 2008 (173 deaths). India blames Pakistan for Mumbai.

Meanwhile, in 2009 alone, over 3,500 people have died from terrorist attacks in Pakistan.

And who is responsible for all the terrorism in Pakistan? Good question.

The Pakistan government has been provided a variety of proofs of involvement of Indian government and especially the Indian intelligence agency behind the continuous chaos in various parts of Pakistan, particularly NWFP province’s Malakand division and tribal agencies of North and South Waziristan where Pakistan army is fighting a war against terrorists.

…These investigations indicate that the Pakistani law enforcing agencies found highly credible evidence proving that the Indians were not only giving comprehensive financial support to terrorists in Balochistan but were also providing them with huge caches of all sorts of weapons and other military equipment.

…The Daily Mail’s [of Pakistan -- ed.] findings indicate that not only this but the Pakistani security forces also seized a large amount of Indian currency and Indian medicines from the deserted or conquered hideouts of militants in different operations in Swat and Waziristan.

… In addition, the security forces also seized huge amount of currency bills of Indian currency either from the arrested militants or from the captured hideouts. The investigations reveal that trade in Indian currency in all parts of Afghanistan is quite open and normal and one can buy anything at anywhere with Indian currency in any part of Afghanistan. According to some reports, the Indian currency is more acceptable than the US Dollar in Afghani business markets.

^^^^^^^

Over the last several weeks the contrived Clash of Civilizations has flared up in Malaysia over the use of the word Allah in Christian churches. After a week or two of that, the US Embassy in Malaysia warned that tourists to the Sabah state were at risk of attack by criminal and terrorist groups.

This warning precipitated a prompt response. The Malaysian government tightened security and quickly dismissed the warning. The Malaysian government then summoned the US envoy for an explanation of the misleading advisory.

This is the explanation:

The US advisory did not give details of the possible threat, but noted that Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf militants based in the southern Philippines - a short boat ride from Sabah - have kidnapped foreigners from Sabah’s secluded resort areas in the past.

^^^^^^^

Abu Sayyaf has an outstanding terrorist pedigree. It can be linked back to Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda, 911, the CIA, ISI, etc.

In particular, for the purposes of this thread, the Abu Sayyaf can be linked back to Pakistan.

[Privilege speech of Sen. Aquilino Pimentel at the Senate, July 31, 2000]

In the early 1980s, the CIA actively recruited, “armed and supported” moujahideens or volunteer Muslim warriors to fight the CIA sponsored-US proxy war in Afghanistan against the Russians who had invaded the country in 1979 and had put up a puppet regime there. Chalmers Johnson, Blowback, p. 13 et

Thousands of Muslim fighters from many parts of the world, including many young men from the Muslim-dominated areas in Mindanao, enlisted to fight in Afghanistan. After all, the dollar-denominated monthly pay plus incentives of $100 to $300 a month was certainly attractive enough for the jobless and impoverished Muslim youths. John K. Cooley, Unholy Wars, p. 107

These young warriors were, then, trained to – and many did - fight in Afghanistan supported with funds and equipment by the CIA and its network of friendly foreign funders which at that time included Osama bin Ladin, a highly successful Arab business man in the construction industry. Bin Ladin subsequently fell out of grace with the CIA which has since been trying to get him either literally or extradited to the US for his complicity in the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York in 1993.

…In the case of the Filipino Muslim Moujahideens, most came back to various parts of Mindanao from their base in Peshawar, Pakistan.

In the words of John K. Cooley in his book, Unholy Wars, “This group (of Filipino Muslim Moujahideens) was the core of an armed guerilla band of several hundred men who xxx moved from its Peshawar, Pakistan base to the southern Philippine Islands after the end of the Afghan war. Under the name of the Abu Sayyaf group, it operated on the fringe of the Moros Muslim insurgency.”

Thus was the Abu Sayyaf born.

The Abu Sayyaf took its name from Professor Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, an Afghan intellectual, who had preached an ultra-conservative Islamic ideology called Wahabi.

Cooley calls the Abu Sayyaf in the 1990s as “the most violent and radical Islamist group in the Far East, using its CIA and ISI (Pakistan’s intra-military directorate for intelligence services) training to harass, attack and murder Christian priests, wealthy non-Muslim plantation-owners and merchants and local government in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao.” [p. 63]

Thus we can see that the CIA and ISI created this problem, the Abu Sayyaf, with an assist from Saudi Arabia, which spawned Wahhabism.

According to Senator Aquilino Pimentel, military and police personnel then cultivated informers within the Abu Sayyaf, and some members received military intelligence services IDs, safe-houses, safe-conduct passes, firearms, cell phones and financial support. In his speech, he demanded that these traitors to the Philippines be held accountable for their corruption.

Since that speech in 2000, the Abu Sayyaf has certainly not been contained. They operate from the island of Jolo. It appears they stepped up their attacks in 2009.

In 2000, Abu Sayyaf took about 20 people – most of them Western tourists – captive from an island resort across the Malaysian border. They were all released within three months after the Libyan government paid a ransom of around $10 million, media reports said at the time.

…Last year [2008], Muslim rebels generated more than 22 million pesos (SFr528,000) in ransom payments from at least six kidnappings, including the high-profile abduction of three members of a local television network, according to the Philippines military.

…About two dozen people have been kidnapped in 12 incidents on two restive southern islands since January [2009], authorities say.

In September 2009, two US Navy men and one Filipino Marine were killed in a roadside bomb.

Abu Sayyaf is believed to have about 400 fighters, to have received funds from al-Qaida and is suspected of sheltering militants from the larger Southeast Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah. An estimated 600 U.S. troops are currently stationed in the Philippines, mostly in the southern front lines of the Philippine military’s operations against the Abu Sayyaf group and Jemaah Islamiyah.

In November 2009, the group beheaded a teacher.

In December 2009, they burst through a jail wall and freed 31 inmates.

^^^^^^^

In July of 2009, the Philippine government deployed hundreds of troops on Jolo and Basilan islands to finish off the 400 member Abu Sayyaf.

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro ordered the military last week to launch new assaults against the militants on Jolo and Basilan islands after the militants freed Italian hostage Eugenio Vagni — the last of three Red Cross aid workers who were kidnapped on Jolo in January. Without any hostages to worry about, government forces can now carry out more offensives, regional military commander Maj. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino said.

…The government has opened peace talks with a bigger Muslim separatist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), but the Abu Sayyaf is not covered by the talks. A report by the US Pacific Command describes the Abu Sayyaf as “a cross between a chilling gang of bandits and a franchise operation of al-Qaida.” “Since the early 1990s, it has terrorized the southern Philippines with kidnappings, bombs and outright massacres; it has also been linked to several international terrorist plots and militants,” the report noted. More recent reports said the Abu Sayyaf, under new leadership, has been able to link up with the Indonesian Jemaah Islamiyah, said to be behind a regional Islamist terror campaign, including two recent bombings in Jakarta.

By November, after the beheaded school-teacher incident, hopes faded. The Abu Sayyaf would (miraculously) defy the sustained US-backed campaign to finish them off.

The beheading of a kidnap victim is the latest proof that a small number of Islamic militants in the Philippines are defying a sustained US-backed military campaign to extinguish them, observers said. The grisly development this week came just ahead of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to the Southeast Asian nation, throwing the spotlight on joint efforts by Filipino and American forces to crush the Abu Sayyaf.

It’s always very helpful when they “throw the spotlight on.” In any case, regrettable.

And then Hillary Clinton arrived, and the kidnapped priest from Ireland, Michael Sinnot, was released by the MILF. MILF is another long-standing and much larger terrorist group in the Philippines, originally accused of abducting the priest, but later cleared and thanked for securing his release.

The release of the 79-year-old missionary coincided with the arrival in Manila of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, prompting speculation that it was timed to coincide with her visit, the way the release of a kidnapped Red Cross worker was made on the day US Central Intelligence Agency head Leon Edward Panetta flew to Manila.

Although the Asia Times reported that the US Embassy held clandestine meetings with MILF a month earlier, at their camp. Evidently the US Embassy personnel do not fear the MILF. In fact, they have warm and friendly relations. Everyone wants peace, evidently.

Despite the row over Sinnot’s kidnapping, senior US Embassy officials in Manila have held clandestine meetings with MILF leaders in their Maguindanao camp. The US Embassy has kept mum on the meetings, but on its website, the MILF confirmed in a statement that it had held talks with a visiting group of American diplomats led by the US Embassy charge d’affaires, Leslie Basset, on October 16.

Lasting for two hours, the meeting “was warm and forthright”, the MILF said and quoted Basset as saying that the US was willing to play a role in the peace talks. “Helping attain and sustain peace, security and development in Mindanao is a priority concern of our government,” the MILF quoted Bassett as saying.

^^^^^^^

In August 2009, GMANews.TV reported the statements of Lt. Senior Grade Nancy Gadian at a press conference held before an inquiry by the Senate oversight committee on the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) into the activities of US troops in the Philippines.

Gadian, a whistleblower, was invited to the hearing.

Gadian earlier this year exposed the alleged misuse of the P42-million fund allotted for the joint military exercises between the Philippines and the US by high ranking military officials.

Gadian made the following statements:

  • US soldiers have joined Philippine troops in actual combat against Muslim rebels.
  • The American soldiers were embedded in local units.
  • About 500 US soldiers were assigned in Mindanao as “the first line of defense against the enemy.”
  • US troops usually engaged in operations in Mindanao without informing heads of the Philippine military in the area.
  • Philippine forces are fighting the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf terrorist group and other armed groups in Sulu.
  • American troops are stationed in Mindanao even without any Balikatan exercises going on.
  • The Philippine government does not monitor the deployment and movement of these troops in the country’s southern region.
  • Americans in Mindanao usually have programs or projects which they do not tell the leadership of the Southern Command. They just go to areas where they want to go.

Gadian’s affadavit also states:

  • The US military of building permanent structures in different military camps in the country. She said US forces have established “permanent” and “continuous” presence in Zamboanga, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi in the south.
  • The Philippine military has no access to the camps built by the US soldiers in these areas since they are “fenced off by barbed wires and guarded by US Marines.”
  • These structures are indications the US troops had no intention of leaving the country, which is a violation of the Philippine Constitution.
  • The “arrogant” behavior of many US military officers toward Filipinos.
  • Some US military men bringing Filipino women prostitutes to different areas in the camp.
  • “On the whole, their assertions of power and authority appear like they rule over us and the country.”

^^^^^^^

Given that the CIA helped create Abu Sayyaf; and given the US military’s unrestrained access to the very areas of the Philippines where Abu Sayyaf allegedly operates from; and given the history of connections between Abu Sayyaf militants and their military handlers; and given the warm and friendly relations between US Embassy personnel and MILF leaders…

Can we not imagine that Robert Gates’ foreshadowing remarks about provocative actions might, perhaps, have something to do with Abu Sayyaf?

thoughts on a murder

Jan 16

Posted by A. Peasant in CIA, Corruption & Crime, Cyprus, Diplomats, Greece, Identities, Israel, Mossad, Terrorism, Turkey | No Comments

This past week someone important died in Greece. Actually he was murdered. Antis Hadjicostis was the son of Costis Hadjicostis, owner of Dias Media Group. A privately held media group. Presumably that means the station can air whatever views it likes.

Sigma TV is a commercial network in Cyprus [...eastern Mediterranean, south of Turkey and west of Syria and Lebanon] that commenced broadcasting on April 3, 1995. It is a private service and is currently the second-rated channel in Cyprus. Sigma TV is geared at a younger audience, with the focus on the 18-45 age group. It broadcasts a mix of original programmes as well as popular foreign programming. The current programming breakdown is as follows: Local- 40%, US- 15%, Greece- 5% and Latin American- 40%.

News programs include:

Tomes Sta Gegonota- Daily newcast with live reports and informative discussion with all the headlines from around the world. Me Agapi- Informative discussion on current affairs and key issues. From personal issues to problems affecting society as a whole. Etsi Apla… me tin Mairi Haritonos- Talkshow that examines economic issues affecting everyday life; unemployment, inequality, taxes- how people deal with these problems. Also a look at Cyprus’ role in the Global economy. Hosted by ?ary Haritonos, Tuesdays at 11:10pm

The killers escaped on a high speed motorcycle near the American and French embassies.

Police said the victim was shot twice at close range while entering his house, a short distance away from the American and French embassies in an exclusive part of Nicosia. The gunman got away on a high powered motorcycle driven by another man.

His father is considered a political king-maker.

The father of the victim is considered by United Nations officials in Cyprus and some western foreign embassies as a political king-maker who can exert influence on a large portion of Greek Cypriots in connection with a future solution of the Cyprus problem.

So the most obvious conclusion: someone is trying to send a message about which way to exert his influence on the Cyprus problem. But we don’t necessarily draw the most obvious conclusion, we just note it.

What is the Cyprus problem? Long story. Shorter:

In retrospect, Greek inhabitance of Cyprus that dates back to the Bronze age, shows us that this island consists of a religion, culture and language that is of Greek origin. However, we must also understand that the Turkish conquest also played a large role in creating Cyprus’s demography. Subsequently, the Greek-Cypriot majority and Turkish-Cypriot minority lived together, in peace and harmony, for hundreds of years.

However, we believe that two of the many things that led to the deterioration of peace and harmony should be highlighted. The first, the plan of “taksim” was engraved in the minds of the Turkish-Cypriots, which led them to believe, after many years of co-habitation, that things needed to change. The Turkish-Cypriots were led to believe that “taksim” was the only answer to their problems, even though no problem existed. [Taksim means division, partition, distribution in Turkish. - ed.]

Then, there was the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee. [Signed between Cyprus on one side and Greece, Britian, and Turkey on the other. - ed.] Here, Turkey was given “the right of joint or even unilateral action for the purpose of re-establishing the state of affairs created by the Treaty.” In the end, their actions were unilateral; however, they did not achieve the “purpose” of the Treaty. Instead, they achieved their own “purpose” which is to “occupy” a foreign, sovereign, and last but not least, the territory of an United Nations member.

I don’t know this Cyprus story but right away I notice it’s familiar. Colonial powers interfering and mucking around in other countries causing problems signing treaties and giving land that doesn’t belong to them to other people. In writing. Mind-viruses taking hold of people. Problems being CREATED.

Of course, hegemons create problems for long-term strategic reasons. They let the problems fester over generations, until people can no longer remember how it all started, until the history has been rewritten the bodies buried the keys lost… The problems fester as long as needed, which is as long as people need to be divided. Typically forever. Kick the can down the road forever, just like the Middle East “peace” “process.”

In more recent history, we know that Turkey has stood up to Israel. Turkey, specifically Erdogan, has taken a principled stand against Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, over that other illegal occupation, and he has been very effective in diplomacy meeting with Iran, Syria, Lebanon and all the interested parties in world diplomacy, all while capturing the populist imagination. A serious crime. He truly showed Peres up last year by walking out at Davos. The Israelis will never get over it, as they proved just this past week.

Official sources in Tel Aviv said Erdogan had changed his attitude towards Israel since Operation Cast Lead. “This process started when Erdogan abandoned a debate with President Shimon Peres (in Davos), so actually what is being done in Jerusalem is less important than what is happening in Ankara,” one source said.

Evidently that was unforgivable. At the time, Israel gloated that Erdogan had shot himself in the foot and senior European diplomats would never let Turkey into the EU after this. And what is that all about anyway? Is it really a tribal thing?

In terms of foreign policy, the main obstacle to EU membership remains the unresolved issues between Turkey and EU member Greece….Equally as serious as the Cyprus issue is Turkey’s dispute with Greece over territorial rights and interests in the Aegean Sea. Although both Greece and Turkey are de jure allies in NATO, their conflicting claims brought them to the brink of war in 1986 and 1987. A fundamental source of contention is exploration rights to minerals, primarily oil, beneath the Aegean Sea. International law recognizes the right of a country to explore the mineral wealth on its own continental shelf. Greece and Turkey, however, have been unable to agree on what constitutes the Aegean continental shelf. …The issue of the right to control the airspace over the Aegean appears similarly intractable.

OK. So so far we can see a long-standing mess in Cyprus, having little to do with the people in power today, pitting the Turks and the Greeks for decades. And we have Erdogan pissing off Israel now. And all of a sudden, lo, there’s a flare-up in the Cyprus problem — an assassination — the son of a king-maker who owns an independent media company. Hold that thought.

Moving right along. Greece is a problem for the EU… a financial catastrophe dragging everyone down.

Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Greece’s mounting budget deficit risks hurting the euro, saying the currency faces a “very difficult phase.” Merkel, speaking at a private forum hosted by Die Welt newspaper yesterday, questioned the fiscal discipline of other countries using the euro, according to a transcript posted on the German government’s Web site today. “The Greek example can put us under great, great pressures,” she said, according to the transcript. “Who will tell the Greek parliament to please go ahead and pass a pension reform? I don’t know that they’ll be enthusiastic about Germany giving them instructions.” German lawmakers wouldn’t be happy if Greece told them what to do, she said. “So the euro is in a very difficult phase over the coming years.”

In Athens, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou announced plans to cut spending and raise revenue by about 10 billion euros ($14.5 billion) this year as part of a three-year plan adopted today to bring the European Union’s biggest budget deficit within the EU limit in 2012. “We will do whatever it takes,” Papandreou said in a televised speech to his Cabinet. “Our country can and is obliged to exit as soon as possible this vicious circle of misery. We will not retreat; we will proceed quickly.”

So in the very large picture, we see Turkey strong and relatively independent, while Greece is relatively weak and dependent, a situation that has been obvious to the casual observer for about a year.

Given all of that, let’s take a closer look at this murder and the events surrounding it.

1. The assassination has stirred up instability, according to politicians.

The assassination of Cyprus’ most powerful publisher stirred fears of rising instability Tuesday as ethnic Greek and Turkish leaders made a new push to reunify the war-divided Mediterranean island.… The spokesman said the gunman fled on a motorcycle driven by an accomplice. No shell casings were found. Police stressed that no evidence of a motive had emerged. But politicians said the crime appeared aimed at spurring instability at a time when the peace talks with Turkish Cypriots have sharpened political divisions between Greek Cypriot liberals and nationalists favoring a harder line.

Regarding the shell casings: “A sign of professional assassins who knew that these casings would easily identify the weapon used and who had plenty of time to collect them.”

2. Greek police say Hadjicostis was warned by an intelligence operative that his life was in danger.

NICOSIA (AP) – Police in Cyprus say it is unlikely that political motives lay behind the assassination of the country’s most powerful publisher. … Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos said yesterday that a member of the island’s intelligence service had warned Hadjicostis that his life was in danger. Katsounotos said the investigation is proceeding in a “specific direction,” but did not elaborate.

If true, this dispenses with the most obvious conclusion noted up top, namely that someone wanted to send a strong message to the elder Hadjicostis, king-maker. Also note that the most obvious conclusion implicates Turkey, which would exacerbate tensions between the Greece and Turkey. Now who would want to smear Turkey? Hmm. Thinking…..

3. Three men have been arrested for the murder. Recall that no shell casings were found. Smart. No, wait. They were stupid.

Prosecutors said the evidence collected includes fingerprints on a motorcycle helmet visor found near the crime scene, tire treads matching a motorcycle at one suspect’s home and CCTV camera footage. An informant also testified of hearing the suspects boast about “a job that would earn them a lot of money,” and then about planning and carrying out the murder, Nicosia crimes unit chief Thomas Efthymiou said.

4. Actually, they pulled off a stunningly brazen murder if you consider all this, so they had to be either really smart, or really stupid, or doing an inside job:

Andy’s assassination came only hours after the inauguration of the so called intensive talks between President Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader M. Ali Talat.

His assassination took place almost on the doorstep of the American Embassy in Nicosia (He lived in a very near proximity). It was unprecedented for such a killing to take place “in front of the eyes” of the American Embassy and KYP offices (Cyprus Intelligence Service) which are also housed in the same immediate area.

The freedom with which the killers executed their crime, at a time people are still out and about, (early evening) in such a populated area in Nicosia with so many other Embassies and surveillance cameras, is indeed unprecedented.

…The American Embassy as we all know is equipped with the most modern and sophisticated technology in intelligence and surveillance. For the killers to ignore this factor and relentlessly carry on with the execution of their mission creates a great number of crucial questions as to the identity of these assassins.

It has been said that the Police inquiries are investigating also economic criteria for the murder. However, economic criteria can easily connect or lead to political behind the scenes criteria and reasons. As we all know it is the business world that keeps or controls political matters….

5. From the same source, we learn about the DIAS publishing group’s role in shaping public opinion on important international matters:

DIAS publishing is an organisation that has held high the flag of resistance against the notorious Annan Plan and contributed proudly to its rejection by the people on 24 April 2004. The consortium with its newspaper, Radio and TV gave all its strength in enlightening the people on the parameters and definition of the Annan monstrosity and was proud for the results.

This result was not liked by the supporters of the Annan Plan, primarily the Turks and the British and Sir David Hannay did not miss the opportunity to blame certain journalists as those responsible for the big NO against the Annan Plan. He clearly meant Dias group (besides Antenna TV which also played a significant role in fighting against the Annan Plan) and all of us who campaigned from it against the Annan Plan. He actually vowed to revenge the Greek Cypriots when he stated “you have rejected it but we will keep on bringing it back until you accept”.

Aha there are the British again. Here you can read about the UN Annan Plan.

Its philosophy derives out of the existing Cyprus constitution that was drafted in 1960 by the British in order to cause deadlocks and subsequently havoc between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities in Cyprus with the overriding objective of retaining the two British military bases in Cyprus in Dekelia and in Akrotiri indefinitely.

…Nevertheless, all of the abovementioned politicians serve one very important (National Security) function that should never be undermined: They serve as the Greek Cypriot alibi to the European and International Public Opinions that the Greek/Greek Cypriot politicians have done ALL they could to convince (mislead) the people of Cyprus to vote FOR the UN Annan plan in the referenda of the 24 April 2004 in view of the pressures exercised by Washington (USA) and London (UK) in order to favor Ankara (Turkey).

Running both sides of the conflict, are we then? Support Turkey, but also support Greece. Keep the people embroiled in conflict. Perhaps I misunderstand.

September 7, 2009: The Greek people of Cyprus rejected their anathema in 2004 and they will do the same again. We are not going to surrender our country, our rights, our properties, our Churches, our memories neither for Hannay and his lot nor any of our lot to that matter that supports them so that they can de-criminise Turkey and facilitate her EU entry. We say NO. WE DO NOT FORGET THE THIEVES, INVADERS, RAPISTS, MURDERERS OF OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS AND SNATCHERS OF OUR LAND.

Is it true there are only eight stories in the world? It seems like that sometimes.

Anyway, there are only two more items of interest right now:

1. A powerful explosion, blamed on leftists, went off at the Ministry of Press and Information in Athens Saturday. No one was hurt.

2. Erdogan to meet with Greek president in Abu Dhabi next week, after attending an energy summit.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan will meet with Greek President Karolos Papoulias next week in United Arab Emirates where he will attend an energy summit. Erdogan will make a speech at the 3rd World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi on Monday January 18. Following the summit meeting, Erdogan will have a meeting with Greek President Papoulias, Turkish officials said.

I would love to wrap this all up with some pithy case closed remark, but I can’t. All I can say is that we can almost always dismiss the obvious conclusions and look instead to the long narrative, the one dealing with Israel’s world hegemony. Sometimes it seems like the world is turning on Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Be careful man.

UPDATE: Israel to send Cabinet minister to Persian Gulf emirate of Abu Dhabi for first time (cough).

UPDATE: For our further edification, aangirfan explains the Mossad connection, providing many interesting links, such as this meeting which took place two days after the assassination:

5. On 13 and 14 January 2010, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman visited Greek Cyprus. (Israeli FM begins official visit )

Greek Cyprus’s Foreign Minister Marcos Kyprianou said that the meeting allowed discussion on matters that would help Cyprus and Israel to improve on ‘excellent’ relations.

In August 2009, Turkey and Russia signed an agreement to construct a gas pipeline that is intended to run from Ceyhan in Turkey to Ashkelon in Israel, via a transit station in Karpasia in Turkish Cyprus. (Israeli FM begins official visit )

damage control: you’re doing it wrong

Jan 14

Posted by A. Peasant in Diplomats, Hasbara, Israel, Mr. Bibi N. & Friends, Stupidity, Turkey | No Comments

Oh dear…

“This is not diplomacy, but rather a mistake by one person. It is good that this man, the deputy foreign minister, fixed his mistake,” the president said at an event in Tel Aviv. “This must not be attributed to the entire country and to all diplomats. We must learn not to make such mistakes,” Peres reportedly said.

Earlier Thursday, Kadima Council chairman and former MK Haim Ramon said

that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s government should send a letter of apology

to all the Israeli citizens

for humiliating Israel in an unnecessary confrontation with Turkey.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1263147892230

Also:

Turkey’s main Jewish group on Thursday said the row between their country and Israel must be solved courteously, and warned that continued tensions could inflame anti-Semitism.

…“We continue to be concerned about a new environment in Turkey which permits and even encourages extreme expressions regarding Jews and Israel,” Abraham H. Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League said in a statement released Wednesday.

“While we have celebrated Turkey’s history of coexistence with Jews and the protection Turkish society provides for its Jewish community, we cannot ignore this new atmosphere and its potential consequences.”

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1142658.html

No no, keep talking. You’re doing just great.

See: the full monty:

Ayalon’s associates responded that the messages of praise he had received from inside and outside his party outnumbered the condemnations by a ratio of eight to one. They stressed that everything he did was coordinated with Lieberman.

UPDATE: No no…see, Ayalon meant to threaten the Turkish ambassador, not humiliate him. Sheesh you people are so hyper-sensitive. He tewtally deserved it.

In the interview, Ayalon also said that the incident in which he reportedly ‘humiliated’ the Turkish ambassador by making him sit in a lower chair was intended to send the Turks a threatening message, not humiliate the ambassador. [SEE? Threatening, humiliating...not the same. -ed.]

“The story with the cameras wasn’t planned, I didn’t think it was being recorded, and if it was - I didn’t think it would be aired with sound. [ie: I though I would get away with it... - ed.] My intention wasn’t to humiliate, but to send a visual message. The ambassador didn’t feel humiliated either - only once reporters started calling him. The picture was aimed at the Turks, to send them a message. I think what Erdogan did to Peres in Davos is humiliation, not this,” said Ayalon….During the meeting, Turkey’s ambassador was seated in a low sofa, and facing him, in higher chairs, were Ayalon and two other officials - an arrangement carried out at Lieberman’s orders. [But that doesn't mean it was, you know, "planned." - ed.]

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1142969.html

Donde los clown pants?

the full monty

Jan 13

Posted by A. Peasant in Diplomats, Hasbara, Israel, Mr. Bibi N. & Friends, Psychopaths, Turkey | No Comments

Israel displays its petty and sophomoric nature with the Turkish diplomatic incident and subsequent fallout. Behold.

Background: Israel needs Turkey. Turkey doesn’t need Israel. Turkey has been making friends all over the place. Erdogan stood up to Peres last year at Davos over Operation Cast Lead. In typically myopic Israeli style, everything is always about Israel and Israel’s glass feelings. So when a Turkish television drama depicted Israeli security forces kidnapping children and shooting old men — a depiction supported by conspiracy facts on the ground, lest we forget Operation Cast Lead and organ stealing, just two recent examples of genocidal behavior — Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon could not resist behaving like a seventh grader while meeting Turkish ambassador Ahmet Oguz Celikkol in Jerusalem.

At the beginning of the conversation with the Turkish envoy on Monday, Ayalon told cameramen in Hebrew: “Pay attention that he is sitting in a lower chair … that there is only an Israeli flag on the table and that we are not smiling.”

One Turkish source said that Ayalon “set a trap” for Celikkol, and that the envoy had no idea that he was being humiliated until afterward when Ayalon’s words to the cameramen were broadcast. The source also mentioned that Ayalon did shake his hand, but not in front of the cameras.

And does anyone have the sense to say, you know, maybe that’s not a good idea? NO! In fact they all seem to think this is a splendid smack-down. The Israeli dailies splashed the news all over the front pages. We hazed that fucker, boo-yah! High fives.

TEL AVIV - Israeli newspapers on Tuesday played up what they called the “hazing” of Turkey’s ambassador by Israel, in an incident likely to ratchet up already high tensions between the two allies.

The media highlighted the fact that Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon made Ambassador Ahmet Celikkol sit on a low couch while the Israelis sat on high chairs.

Rather than summoning Celikkol to the ministry as is the norm, Ayalon saw him in his parliamentary office after making him wait in the corridor and telling staff to remove the Turkish flag and refreshments that were on the table. “The important thing is that people see that he’s sitting low down and we’re high and that there is one flag,” Israeli television aired Ayalon as telling invited photographers and camera crews.

Israeli dailies all splashed the story on the front page, with Maariv headlining: “The ambassador gets a hazing” above a picture showing the Turkish envoy sitting much lower than Ayalon and looking uncomfortable.

Some people in Ayalon’s party, sensing the faux pas, say he ruined his career. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1263147877256

“He is finished politically,” an Israel Beiteinu official said. “This ruins his reputation as a diplomat. It is a stain that cannot be erased. He damaged Lieberman and first and foremost himself. It is too soon to say if it will completely disqualify him, but people in the party will no doubt remember this if a decision would be made on who should be acting foreign minister. This erases the notion that he is the obvious front-runner.”

…”We have enough problems with the Muslim world without picking a fight with a country that has 72 million Muslims,” Ben-Eliezer told Israel Radio from India, where he is on an official visit. “When I met with the Turks [in November], I told them what needed to be said privately. This is not the way [to do things]; it is the way to get the entire Muslim world against us. Whoever wants the entire Muslim world against us, well, the best of luck to him.” Former deputy foreign minister Majallie Whbee of Kadima called for “the diplomat Ayalon to fix the damage of the politician Ayalon as soon as possible, apologize to the ambassador, and promise to put the agenda of the country ahead of that of his party from now on.”

Labor MK Daniel Ben-Simon called upon Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to summon Ayalon to his office and put him on a low chair, “so he will see how low Israeli diplomacy has stooped.” He said Netanyahu should replace Lieberman before he does even more damage to Israel’s image internationally.


But *those* people make up a small minority! Far MORE people consider Ayalon da bomb!

Ayalon’s associates responded that the messages of praise he had received from inside and outside his party outnumbered the condemnations by a ratio of eight to one. They stressed that everything he did was coordinated with Lieberman. “The party seems to be behind him on this,” an Ayalon associate said. “Our phones and fax were ringing off the hook, he got great support on Facebook, and he was received very warmly on a lunch visit to a humous restaurant in the [capital's] Mahaneh Yehuda market. There has of course been criticism, but the support has been overwhelming.”

Not enough rope? Wait there’s more. There’s the non-apology apology — actually several:

Ayalon, before the statement was released, told Army Radio that he would not apologize. “It’s the Turks who should - for what [Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdogan said and for the television series,” Ayalon said. “We are merely setting boundaries.”

…“The prime minister believes that the foreign ministry’s protest to the Turkish ambassador was just in its essence but should have been conveyed in an acceptable diplomatic manner,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.

So there. Neener neener to you too. And the truth of the matter: Israel does not like Turkey’s friends. Israel decided to give Turkey a little spanking.

Netanyahu expressed concern at the deterioration of relations between Israel and Turkey. In talks behind closed doors, he said that during the past two years “Turkey has been steadily and systematically slipping eastward toward Syria and Iran,” instead of westward, toward Europe and the United States. “This is a trend that should really trouble Israel,” Netanyahu was quoted as saying.

Sources in the Israeli Prime Minister’s Bureau said Tuesday the decision to invite the Turkish ambassador for a reprimand by Ayalon was made together with Lieberman. They noted that the Israeli PM was not aware of the way the reprimand would be carried out, “but the minute it happened the prime minister [gave] the foreign minister his full backing.”

Official sources in Tel Aviv said Erdogan had changed his attitude towards Israel since Operation Cast Lead. “This process started when Erdogan abandoned a debate with President Shimon Peres (in Davos), so actually what is being done in Jerusalem is less important than what is happening in Ankara,” one source said.

Aha, still smarting over Erdogan standing up to Peres in Davos. And now Barak has to go to Turkey and make all kiss kiss hug hug. Ha good luck with that.

BEIRUT- Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak will head to Ankara over the weekend for talks with Turkish leaders including Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul and senior military officials , an official in Barak’s office told AFP on Tuesday, as tension between the longstanding allies again spike.

He added that the visit would take place despite the rising tension, which erupted on Monday after [SPIN:] Israel complained to Ankara over the broadcasting of a television series portraying Mossad agents as baby snatchers.

“We give this visit much importance. The ties between the two countries are important, and they must be maintained even if there are ups and downs,” the official said.

Clarification: The tensions erupted after Israel’s obnoxious leaders could no longer maintain diplomatic protocols and revealed their true petty nature for the world to see.

They dropped the mask.

the real crotch bomb is pedophilia

Jan 7

Posted by A. Peasant in CIA, Children, Corruption & Crime, Diplomats, Human Trafficking, Israel, Mossad, Obama/Biden, Pakistan, Southeast Asia, Turkey | No Comments

Wayne Madsen reports that US embassy personnel and military people are involved in pedophilia in Southeast Asia.

From Hans Vogel in Pravda (opinion):

If there actually has been an attempt to blow up an airplane and the would-be “crotch bomber” was escorted by another person, the logical thing to do would be to check out security at Amsterdam airport. Not to increase security measures for all passengers….I believe the Detroit charade was part of a concerted scheme to increase passenger “security” which I suspect has very little to do with any genuine concern for the passengers. It certainly seems part of a grand design to make airline travel unattractive and to get the public used to police state controls.

…In its sinister efforts, the US government is supported by the governments of its vassal states. This time, a major role was assigned to the Dutch government. The first Dutch actor to make a public statement was the Minister of Justice, Ernst Hirsch Ballin. It is a mystery how this man ever made it back to a cabinet position, after being forced to resign in 1994 as justice minister for his involvement in a billion dollar drug trafficking operation. The man is also suspected of paedophilia. Moreover, the highest ranking public servant in the justice ministry is a notorious paedophile. Hirsch Ballin called for the immediate introduction of full body scanners at Dutch airports. A few days later, Dutch interior minister, Mrs. Guusje ter Horst was cued to chip in. This woman, an alcoholic who is routinely let off the hook by the police whenever she is caught driving while drunk, actually had the nerve to say that the world had escaped disaster when the “crotch bomber” plan was foiled.

…After the Dutch cabinet ministers had played their bit parts, the leaders of other European vassal states came on stage. One after the other, Germans, Italians and Englishmen gave their performance, with the main stream media predictably spreading the message without any accompanying critical editorial commentary. Thus within two weeks, the European public has ostensibly been won over to support the introduction of security measures that will make air travel an even more miserable experience, and that will certainly not improve security.

However, the fact that the Obama regime now has to rely on vassal state officials with demonstrable criminal records an assorted deviant behavior, is another indication that the US empire is in a deep crisis. Nor does the support from the vassal states come spontaneously. For instance, the chief explanation for the obsequiousness of the Dutch seems to be blackmail. That is right, blackmail. Mr. Joris Demmink, the justice ministry’s director general, is being blackmailed by the Turkish intelligence service at least since 2002. The blackmail concerns Mr. Demmink’s orgies with under age boys in Turkish seaside resorts. Given the close ties the Turkish intelligence services have with their US counterparts, it can be easily understood the US is blackmailing the Dutch as well. In other words, what we are witnessing are scenes from a Hollywood mafia movie, only this time its title reads “international diplomacy, US style.”

The US government does not seem to realize that its hold on the vassal states is becoming a tenuous one, since the popular acceptance of their puppets and stooges is dwindling at an ever faster rate.

Meanwhile, in Turkey, a judge’s order to seize COSMIC documents sends Turkey’s “deep state” into crisis:

Turkey’s “Deep State” of military, intelligence, and law enforcement officers, linked to the CIA and Israel’s Mossad through the Ergenekon network of spies and “false flag” operatives, has been shaken over the decision of Ankara Judge Kadir Kayan to order NATO COSMIC Top Secret rooms at the Turkish Special Forces Command’s Tactical Mobilization Group in Ankara to be searched by civilian prosecutors and police.

“COSMIC” is a NATO classification and the investigation of the shadowy Ergenekon network has turned up evidence that COSMIC documents may contain proof that Turkey’s Special Operations forces were planning to assassinate top Turkish political leaders, including Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc. There are also reports that the Turkish military, with the support of the United States and Israel, was planning a military coup against President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an. The Turkish leaders have been highly critical of Israel’s bloody invasion of Gaza, code named “Cast Lead,” and Washington’s call for increased sanctions on Iran.

The documents seized by prosecutors and police may also show that the CIA’s “Gladio” networks, so-called “stay behind networks” established in NATO and neutral countries during the Cold War to coordinate sabotage in the event of a Soviet invasion and occupation, may have continued in Turkey and serves as the core component of Ergenekon. A similar network exists in Lebanon and was the core of the infamous White House Murder Inc. which carried out all the assassinations in Lebanon over the last decade, starting with the assassination of Mr. Elie HOBEIKA, January 24th 2002 in Hazmieh, Lebanon, home to the SCS and more…

Some of the seized NATO COSMIC Top Secret documents involve the operations of Gendarmarie Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism Organization (JITEM), which was composed of Turkish special operations forces and police who carried out assassinations of academics, Kurdish politicians, and even fellow military personnel in terrorist attacks that were blamed on the Kurdish Worker’s Party (PKK), deemed a “terrorist” organization by Turkey and the United States.

The documents may also reveal the involvement of the CIA, as well as top Turkish military and MIT intelligence personnel in the 1978 assassination of Turkish prosecutor Dogan Oz. Oz was the first prosecutor to investigate the CIA’s Gladio operations in Turkey. Since the investigation of the NATO COSMIC Top Secret documents began, prosecutor Mustafa Bilgili and Judge Kayan have received death threats.

We have also learned that some of the COSMIC Top Secret documents seized in Turkey point to an American “Deep State” Pentagon counterpart to the Turkish Ergenekon network. Former FBI Turkish translator Sibel Edmonds spoke of this network being uncovered by wiretaps of U.S. political leaders and Turkish lobbyists in the United States.

Some things which may possibly be related:

The story on the two female Mossad agents in the psychiatric ward, which possibly links back to Sibel Edmunds testimony:

Edmonds’ allegations under oath that “the Turkish Lobby in the United States was under the direction of the Turkish Government and engaged in operations including bribery, espionage and blackmail with certain members of the US House of Representatives to further its objectives in the United States including one of which is the denial of the Armenian Genocide.”

Then, of course, you have to view things like this with a skeptical eye:

ISLAMABAD, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) — The United States is concerned about the continued “provocative actions” and false allegations against U.S. personnel working to implement the new partnership between the leaders of Pakistan and the United States, the U.S embassy said here on Thursday. Pakistani authorities recently briefly detained U.S. personnel and their vehicles in different parts of the country for what they say using fake number flats for their diplomatic cars.…He said that the staff was preparing for the upcoming visit of U.S. development assistance staff to one of Pakistan’s most impoverished regions….The spokesman said that the U.S. Mission renews its call on Pakistan officials to implement immediately the mutually agreed upon procedures for the issuance of license plates to U.S. Mission vehicles and to cease these contrived incidents involving U.S. Mission vehicles and personnel.

And the Romanian envoy to be investigated…a cover-up in the works? Investigating a hit-and-run accident seems to pose quite a problem:

ROMANIA’S Foreign Ministry has asked its government Prosecutor’s Office to investigate the Bukit Panjang hit-and-run accident on Dec 15 which has been linked to the charge d’affaires of its embassy in Singapore.

The move came after it carried out an internal investigation, ‘which led to the conclusion that from the point of view of legal procedures and international regulations, the MFA has neither the competences nor the means to identify the author, the cause and the circumstances of the accident, all such aspects pertaining to penal procedure,’ said a press statement issued by the ministry on Tuesday.

…As part of the probe, it has also recalled Mr Silviu Ionescu, its charge d’affaires, from his Singapore post. The diplomat returned to Romania several days after the Dec 15 accident, which left two men injured and another dead. …’Romania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs deeply regrets the occurrence of this accident, irrespective of its still unclarified circumstances, especially as it ended with casualties and a loss of a human life. The MFA conveys its condolences to the family of the young man who died in the accident,’ said the statement.

And from the sidebar:

NO IMMUNITY FROM STATE JURISDICTION

Article 31, first paragraph, from the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations (18 April 1961) stipulates that ‘A diplomatic agent shall enjoy immunity from the criminal jurisdiction of the receiving State’.

But paragraph 4 of the article in the Convention states: ‘The immunity of a diplomatic agent from the jurisdiction of the receiving State does not exempt him from the jurisdiction of the sending State’. As a consequence, the penal investigation in a case in which a diplomat is involved in the receiving state takes place in the state whose citizen he/she is.’

Both Romania and Republic of Singapore are parties to the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations.

So in other words, these diplomats can get away with bloody murder or whatever else, and they only need to worry about being prosecuted back home. If the home country decides they just can’t find the evidence, or whatever ($$$$$), nothing happens.

Diplomatic immunity. That’s some good shit, huh?

the tip of the pedophile iceberg blips on the NWO Titanic’s radar screen

Jan 6

Posted by A. Peasant in Children, Corruption & Crime, Diplomats, Human Trafficking, Military | No Comments

It has to be a good sign that Wayne Madsen can say this stuff on teevee.